NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Response Genetics today said that its third quarter revenues rose 9 percent year over year on higher testing revenues and volumes.
The Los Angeles-based molecular diagnostics firm reported $4.5 million in revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30, up from $4.1 million a year ago as ResponseDX sales offset lower pharmaceutical client revenue. ResponseDX revenues increased 54 percent year over year to $3.9 million, while ResponseDX volumes were up 28 percent.
Response said that the increase in the business resulted from the company's focused commercialization plans, leading to a volume increase related to its technical component/professional component testing service, which was launched in Q3 2013. As part of the TC/PC program, Response processes a patient's sample and returns the results to a pathologist for interpretation.
The company had a net loss of $3.6 million, or $.09 per share, in Q3 2014, compared to a net loss of $2.7 million, or $.08 per share, a year ago.
Its R&D costs rose 22 percent year over year to $477,303 from $391,592, while its SG&A costs were up 30 percent to $4.8 million from $3.7 million.
Response finished the quarter with approximately $6.0 million in cash and cash equivalents.
"We continue to see solid growth in our [ResponseDx] revenue and net unit volume, which has increased both year over year and sequentially," Response Chairman and CEO Thomas Bologna said in a statement. "We believe our steady and solid growth in ResponseDX sales further reinforces the efforts made to invest in and grow this business segment. Additionally, we expect pharma revenues to begin benefiting from the launch of testing services for the ALCHEMIST study."
Short for Adjuvant Lung Cancer Enrichment Marker Identification and Sequencing Trials, ALCHEMIST was launched in August by the National Cancer Institute to use tumor sequencing and genetic markers to determine whether therapies targeting genetic alterations can prevent lung cancer recurrence. Reponse was awarded a "multi-million dollar" subcontract to handle molecular profiling for the trials.